britain ultimate review

8/8/2019 Britain Ultimate Review

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The Ultimate Review y Political culture: attitude and beliefs that affects political behavior

y Legitimacy: belief by the citizens that the government is acting in their best interest

y Distributional politics: the government determines who gets what, and when

y Democracy: government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in

the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. (via

dictionary.com) y Seville, 2002: Tony Blair went to Seville to talk about toughening up immigration laws due to the fact

that so many people from the Middle East were getting in illegally y History of religious conflict

o Henry VIII forms the Anglican Church

o Mary (Catholic)

o Elizabeth I starts Plantation

o James I continues Plantation

y James II is a Catholic Glorious Revolution in 1688

y Catholics and Jews couldnt vote until 1802o There are still Catholic/Protestant tensions in Northern Ireland

y Devolution: transferring power from a central government to a local government

y Margaret Thatchers victory in 1979: She wins the general election from the Conservative Party,

becomes first female PM y Thatcherism

o Monetarism: the only control the government is the amount of money in circulation

o Laissez-faire: low government intervention

o Cutting taxes

o Cut in social services

y Thatchers most successful program : council housing/rent-to-buy/tenant

o Basically allows people who rent housing from the state to eventually buy their house

o The price of the house you buy will be reduced based on how long youve lived there

y Britain in the European Community

o 1973: Britain joins the European Community

o Conditions

Had to follow the rules of the European Community


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Have to submit to the European court y Prime Minister appoints his cabinet

o Minister MUST be a MP

y Prime Minister must gain the support of a majority of cabinet members

o Their method of checks and balances

y Keynesianism

o the government nationalizes some industries, and assumes direct ownership (basically the

government runs a company) and in return has the responsibility of economic stability

and growth (This is the one formed by John Maynard Keynes) y Industrial Revolution: transition into wage labor, cash and market-based transactions replace barter and

production for local need, machinery replaces skilled craft workers y Collectivism

o Expanded role of the government

o Welfare state, narrow the gap of the rich and poor through public services

o State responsibility for economic growth and full employment

y Ethnic minorities in Britain

o Characterized by poverty and diminished job opportunities

o Poorer treatment by the police

o Women get limited employment opportunities

o Overrepresented in low-income households y Organizing principles of the British political system (just look at the notes for this)

y During the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901)

o the sun never sets on the British empire

o extensive informal empire in which Britain ruled as a hegemonic power

y Policies of Tony Blair

o Third way

o Iraq war

o Higher Education Bill y How British look at their history: gradual series of changes

y True of the cabinet

o Basically just know what the cabinet does, etc


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y Britain fell behind its competitors after the Industrial period: because it relied on its area of overseas

control, Britain fell behind as a result of decolonization y Explain why the British government has had the record of parliamentary success: because of the vote of

no confidence and collective responsibility

o Vote of no confidence: when Parliament votes after a bill fails to pass whether they want to

keep the PM or not

o Collective responsibility: refer to notes later down on the page

y Commonly associated with proportional representation electoral systems?

o Proportional representation: the people vote for the party, and then the party gets that

percent of the seats; allows the party to move members around (beneficial for smaller

parties)

o No, for each area, it is winner takes all and the losers get nothing

If a candidate gets 50%+1 vote in the first round of elections, then the winner is

automatically chosen, and there is no second round of elections

If a candidate loses, they are out, and they have no role in Parliament y Blairs largest challenges to power

o Iraq War

o Higher education bill

y Quangos: Government provides funding, fuction and appointment of staff, but ministers are not directly

involved, combination of private and government y Political party system of Great Britain: two-and-a-half party system; Labour and Conservatives are the

main parties, with the Liberal Democrats on the side; creates a stable, one-party government y Obstacles for new political parties

o Elections are first-past-the-post so it is hard to get a hold in parliament

o There is no proportional representation

y Labour party tensions: activists/parliamentarians

o Some want to change, others dont

o Some want to keep the third way, others dont o Some are just concerned with keeping their seat in Parliament

y Parliamentary elections: parliamentary elections are based on the first-past-the-post principle; elections

occur at the longest every five years (within five years of election, the PM must dissolve parliament) y Small number of women in Parliament

y Duties of cabinet ministers?


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o Advising PM

o forms policy which will be placed before parliament

o Controlling and directing body for executive branch

y Liberal democracies (Look at the section 4 notes: liberal democrats)

y Losing the confidence of Parliament: Im assuming it means losing the vote of no confidence, which

y Conservative government accomplishments

o Increased competition in private sector

o Council housing bill

y Role if bureaucracies in modern nation-states

o Bureaucracies = civil service

o Help with the creation of bills

y Collective responsibility: if the Cabinet makes a decision, the party will support it; basically following

along party lines y Unitary state: there are no subdivisions of government, there is only the government at the national level

y Fusion of powers: Parliament acts as the executive,

y Whitehall: where Parliament is, the heart of London, talking about the civil service

y Britains civil servants: 600,000 people (1%) of the population, help assist the Parliament as a channel

from the public to their MP, helps with the creation of bills y Margaret Thatchers poll tax: this is what brought Thatcher down, she wanted to do something similar to

an income tax y The creation of legislation: see notes

y Functions of the House of Commons

o Pass laws

o Give the state finances but authorizing taxes

o Review government policy and public administration

y Reforming the House of Lords

o 1999

number of hereditary lords was cut down to 92

Hereditary lords can no longer speak nor vote

o 2003: Blair proposed several different ways of reforming the HOL, all were rejected

y The Major government was weakened considerably by: wrangling amount Conservatives about the

European Union


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y Select committees: their function is to examine specific policies or aspects of administration

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